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“LANDMINES: A DEADLY PERIL TO ALL THE WORLD'S CREATURES” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S101 on Jan. 5, 1996.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
LANDMINES: A DEADLY PERIL TO ALL THE WORLD'S CREATURES
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I have often spoken of the danger landmines pose to civilians and combatants around the world. There are an estimated 100 million of these hidden killers in over 60 countries, each one waiting to explode from the pressure of a footstep.
The State Department estimates that 26,000 people are killed or maimed by landmines annually. That is 72 people each day, or one every 22 minutes. The overwhelming majority are innocent civilians, who if they are lucky enough to survive face a lifetime of physical and psychological trauma. American service men and women are also the victims of these indiscriminate killers. It is no surprise that the first American casualty in Bosnia was from a landmine. There are 3 to 5 million landmines there, hidden under snow and mud. After our troops leave, millions will remain for years, taking their toll among the civilian population. Few people know that landmines caused a third of the American deaths in Vietnam, a quarter of the American deaths in the Persian Gulf war, and over a quarter of American deaths in Somalia.
Landmines are a global humanitarian catastrophe, but humans are not the only victims. Any living creature, wild or domestic, that weighs as much as a small dog, is a potential landmine victim. There have been many instances when a family lost its only means of livelihood when a cow or water buffalo stepped on a landmine, but there are undoubtedly countless other instances of wild animals that have died from mines. Virtually any animal that triggers a mine suffers terrible injuries and dies from loss of blood.
Mr. President, this may seem unimportant, but it is not. Landmines are insidious because they indiscriminately kill and maim the innocent, and that includes animals as well as people. There have even been reports that the Pentagon is considering using sheep to clear mines, by sending them into minefields to trigger the mines. Not only would this fail to detonate all the mines, but anyone who has seen the horrifying injuries landmines cause would be repulsed by the sacrifice of defenseless animals that way.
Mr. President, landmines are causing a humanitarian catastrophe. Even if not a single new mine were laid the 100 million unexploded mines in the ground would go on killing for decades. We must do all we can to locate and remove them. I have sponsored legislation to appropriate funds to improve the technology for doing that, and to help support mine clearing efforts around the world. Those funds are being used. It is not enough, not nearly enough, but it is a start.
To those who care about innocent life, whether human or non-human, landmines are a scourge that must be rid from the world. Ultimately, the only way to do that is to ban them altogether.
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